Nick Nasev
Chartered Linguist
Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin into English Translator
Australian English Expert
Let's talk about Balkan and Aussie stuff!
nicknasev.com
- Latest (slang) term I've found out by accident is uniquely Aussie... "On the turps" Meaning "to be drinking alcohol to excess" "Turps" comes from "turpentine" So it's like "on the sauce" And "by accident", I mean I casually used the saying in conversation and no-one understood me.
- Today is World Cancer Day And conveniently, tomorrow will be the 18th anniversary of my stage 4 cancer diagnosis. I'm still here! But the threat that the cancer will come back still lingers. Here's what happened with my latest cancer scare... #cancer #worldcancerday #worldcancerday2026
- 24 years ago today Macedonian folk singing legend Petranka Kostadinova died after a dangerous driver ran her over out the front of the Macedonian TV studios in Skopje. She was 53 years old. Her 1979 recording of Raspukala Shar Planina is hauntingly evocative and a childhood favourite of mine
- The signs says "Close the door" Ključ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, February 2014
- How you can tell that an Australian wrote English text... without being told? It's those unsuspecting Aussie words, phrases and terms that pop up in text...
- It's surprisingly taken a month but for the first time I'm translating text featuring prices in Bulgaria and they're now, of course, in euros and not leva. So weird!
- "People overwhelmingly prefer the work of humans to AI. But as with every significant automation technology past, AI is alluring for the simple reason that it lets bosses cut labour costs and exert more control over their workplaces." Blood in the Machine by @bcmerchant.bsky.social
- Yesterday I did my first Turkish coffee cup reading in months. Tip: go with your gut feeling even if the images might seem far-fetched. For instance, I said I saw an image of a juggler in the cup. The person whose cup I read later told me she's seeing a juggler.
- Whatever happened to Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli? My great friend Garth Cartwright's interview with Fab is now on the Guardian website
- "Stop paying me out!" How a common English phrasal verb often has a very different meaning in Australia... #AustralianEnglish #AussieEnglish
- So sad to hear that Macedonian folk singer Kostadinka Palazova, aged 86, passed away today. Palazova was 9 years old when her family fled their native village during the Greek Civil War. Palazova specialised in Macedonian folk songs from her native Bojmija region.
- How were the subtitles for the film The Tale of Silyan? Deplorable! For instance, "ЛОЗЈЕ" in Macedonian is "VINEYARD". But look how it was subtitled... That's expensive grapes there! #subtitling #badtranslation #LooksLikeTheyUsedAI
- Never a dull moment at the post office.... The delightful person in front of me loudly complained for all to hear that 'no-one has any f***ken manners anymore'. What a shining example! And no, I'm not in Australia 😁
- International Holocaust Memorial Day today. This is the story of my spouse's late grandfather, Yitzhak Gonen, one of the few survivors of the Kaunas Ghetto. Picture: Yama (the Pit), Minsk, Belarus
- Some translation company sends an unsolicited email excitedly telling me that there are "several captivating projects on the horizon" I'm not sure "captivating" is the best term here, especially for a translation project
- How hot is it in parts of Australia today? Melbourne is forecast to reach above 44°C 🔥 Mildura in northern Victoria is forecast to reach 49°C 🔥 Ceduna, South Australia, reached 49°C 🔥
- Today, 26 January, is Australia Day. But before you go wishing your Aussie clients and friends a happy Australia Day, read this... Not all Aussies are happy about today #Australia #AustraliaDay
- Australia Day, which marks the anniversary when the European colonization of Australia started in 1788, is very polarising, with many Australians calling for a replacement date for the country's national day. But research shows opposition to any move is hardening
- Hagiographic songs are still going strong in the Balkans. Like this one praising the new ethnic Macedonian mayor of Kichevo, a mixed Macedonian/Albanian city. Vlade Lade manages to shoehorn Donald Trump and "local girl" Melania into the song too! As if they care about the region.
- What's one of the most eagerly awaited events in Australia in the lead-up to its national day on 26 January? The lamb meat ad! This year's topic: how Australia can get back to being among the top 10 happiest countries in the world #Australia #AustraliaDay
- Ok, I'm in Funchal, Madeira and only 300 metres away from the Cristiano Ronaldo statue but I have nothing to do with this...
- It's funny because it's true... p.s. The Betoota Advocate is Australia's answer to The Onion or The Daily Mash.
- The latest on the whole lev-to-euro switch in Bulgaria... What lucky coin to use in the Christmas/New Year pitka. I'm seeing many Bulgarians insist that only (now) old stotinki are worthy for the practice – euro coins are not to be used! Not unlike the sixpence in the British Christmas pudding.
- Every year on January 1st in Mosomishte, Bulgaria, the village where my uncle and his family live, boys dress up as scary monsters known as "babugeri", one guy does drag as a bride, and others come in costume, to scare away bad demons in the "raw" year. It's loud and fun!
- Bulgaria's first day with the euro as its currency. The Bulgarian media's main focus has been warning Bulgarians how to identify fake euro notes and coins. Plus, on the socials the most enthusiastic about Bulgaria's entry in the eurozone either aren't Bulgarian or don't live in Bulgaria
- Среќна нова година мили мои роднини и пријатели Македонци во нашата мила Македонија и низ светот! Да сте живи и здрави!
- Честита нова година на всички мои роднини и приятели българи в България и по света! Да сте живи и здрави! Желая ви много късмет с еврото!
- Just had a video call with my cousins in Bulgaria. All was going happy and joyful until I mentioned how they'll be using euros in a matter of hours. Well, that went down like a lead balloon.
- The book I most enjoyed reading in 2025: Australia in 100 Words bluewolf-reviews.com/non-fiction/...
- I can't find a clip of my most favourite song of 2025 (how subversive), so here's my second favourite. From Tajikistan, Ashuri Qurbonshoh with Guli Khandon
- Last day of the Bulgarian lev. Tomorrow Bulgaria will be in the Eurozone. Ursula von der Leyen extolled how the euro will facilitate business and travel. When the average Bulgarian can't even afford to go on a holiday, that rings hollow. Most are scared of price rises. #euro #Bulgaria
- Cosplayers in Guangzhou, a Balkan restaurant in Kenya, a surprising Macedonian city to meet a Roma musician, a journey through Greek Macedonia for my grandmother's centennial, and tears of joy and pain at a symposium on banned folk music. The highlights of my travels in 2025
- Yesterday at home I said how in Slovenian "v" is sometimes pronounced as "w", and used as an example the title of Slovenia's 2010 Eurovision entry, Narodnozabavni rok, by ansambel Roka Žlindre. Slavoj Žižek has now posted a link to a song... performed by the same group. Spooky!
- The first volume of the Macedonian etymological dictionary devised by the Krste Misirkov Institute of the Macedonian Language has been released
- One of SBS’s biggest legacies? Subtitles! SBS in the 1980s led Australia's shift to subtitling, pioneering yellow text with black outlines and using Australian English for audience relevance. By 2000, Australians much preferred the subtitled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon over the dubbed version.
- What has been getting Greek nationalists to the edge of apoplexy? People in Greece singing and dancing to folk songs in Macedonian like this... Note: it's not in "Slavic", "Slavophone" or a "Slavic dialect". The lyrics of this song are in Macedonian. Video credit: Gigenis Makedonas
- I agree! Faux Cyrillic is absolute rubbish!
- Did you know that in the classic 1985 Australian film Robbery Under Arms there was a famous Bulgarian actor? Mladen Mladenov, a popular actor in 1970s Bulgaria, defected to Australia in 1981, where he continued his acting career. He died in a car accident in 1986.
- In 1993 Gjokica Lukarevski joked 🇬🇷 PM Mitsotakis deserved an award for the publicity he gave (the Republic of) Macedonia thanks to the name issue. Likewise with the Florina/Lerin mayor. So many Greeks are now talking about minority issues thanks to his censure of Banda Entopica.
- Australia's unique multicultural broadcaster, SBS, turned 50 in 2025. Here's an insight into what SBS was like in the 1980s and how it enriched Australia, all of its people... and me. Australia, the Balkans, languages and translation all roll into one here for me.
